A Hoard of Roses

[Madeline Kaimarama]

Yellow rose for @Chante Ateara

Maddy was pretty sure her next target was another Hufflepuff - a prefect, right? - so after she’d delivered to Abian she hung around the entrance to the common room. “Is Chante about? Anybody seen Chante?” Maddy checked her basket periodically; Totara was climbing possessively over her few remaining roses, and she had a bad feeling the little dragon had decided to hoard them.

 

[Chante Harvelle-Ateara]

Chante had so much on her mind these days that she completely forgot about rose deliveries. It was a shame too, she had the plan to send roses out to her friends and family. And maybe send one to someone special who she hadn't properly spoken to since the Yule Ball. There was always next year, but it'd be lovely to hear from him again sooner than that. Chante thought about looking for Grayson while she had free time to spare. She casually exited Hufflepuff's common room when she heard someone calling out her name. "Hey, I'm Chante," she warmly smiles at the younger girl who seems to have something in her basket other than roses.

 

[Madeline Kaimarama]

Maddy grinned as a very tall girl approached her. “Hi Chante! I have a rose delivery for you!” Maddy grabbed a yellow rose from her basket, but Totara was sitting on the other end, and when she pulled he grabbed it still tighter. Maddy glanced up at Chante, torn between amusement and embarrassment. “Just a sec, my companion’s decided the roses are his.” Hefting the basket into the crook of her arm, Maddy grabbed Totara from behind with one hand and tried to disentangle him from the rose with the other.

 

[Chante Harvelle-Ateara]

With a quirked brow, Chante took a peek inside the basket of roses. She was confused at first but understood gradually when she meant by a companion. Chante chuckles, covering her mouth, "He a silly one, isn't he," mused the prefect. Chante reached over in her attempt to help out, she was careful not to get anywhere close to the small creature's maw. "What type is he?"

 

[Madeline Kaimarama]

Maddy was glad that Totara’s misbehaviour was at least amusing the person it was inconveniencing, and she chuckled along with her. “I’ve been training him, but he’s not the best behaved,” she admitted. With Chante’s help, Maddy finally made the dragon let go of the rose, and handed it to her. He grumbled and puffed fire at her. “He’s a Norwegian Ridgeback,” Maddy said as she found the note, hoping she might have met someone else with an interest in dragons. “His name is Totara. Here you go!”

Spoiler: Note

Patrol Partner! Happy to be your friend! Norton

 

[Chante Harvelle-Ateara]

Chante took the rose after getting the little Norwegian Ridgeback out of its clutches. "I can tell." Chante giggles, wanting to pet the fierce little fella. She wouldn't take her chances without properly asking, and it would probably shoot flames in her direction. "How are you managing him without protective gloves, I bet the burn stings, right?" Chante asks while reading the note, it was from Norton. Shoot, another friend she didn't send a rose. She hopes he likes erumpent cinnamon bun. "Thank you, that's a nice name! Does it have a special meaning?"

 

[Madeline Kaimarama]

Maddy chuckled in return, pleased that Chante wasn't annoyed with Totara's antics. Although she would have to figure out how to dissuade him from hoarding the roses before her next delivery. "Nah, the fire doesn't burn anything. It's magic," she added, unnecessarily. "He does bite, though, and those tiny teeth don't do much, but they do hurt a bit." Maddy was always a little surprised to be reminded that a lot of people didn't know the native plant names. "It's a native tree," she explained. She giggled and added, "One of the biggest."

 

[Chante Harvelle-Ateara]

Chante made a face, "Huh, and you would think I would know all that. I must be spending too much time in the kitchen," Chante shrugs with a laugh. Or her mother never went over caring for a miniature dragon, it's the big ones that one had to worry about. And Chante had never been interested in keeping a small dragon as a pet. "Thank you for my rose, I'll let you get back to delivering the others. You behave Totara, or I'm afraid I'd have to take some house points away from you," Chante tease, and let the girl go on her way. It's nice to know more students were interested in magical creatures. Otherwise, her mother's post as a professor here will no longer exist.